VEHICLE CONTROLLER, CONTROL METHOD FOR VEHICLE AND CONTROL SYSTEM FOR VEHICLE

An ECU of a vehicle control device selects a system-mounted vehicle traveling ahead of a system-mounted vehicle as a cooperating vehicle and controls the inter-vehicle distance between the selected system-mounted vehicle and the system-mounted vehicle, or the like to control the traffic volume of a road in the vicinity of the system-mounted vehicles, such that traffic jams can be prevented effectively as compared with a case where the system-mounted vehicle performs travel control independently. Furthermore, the ECU determines whether or not to select the system-mounted vehicle as a cooperating vehicle based on the relative speed of the system-mounted vehicle and the system-mounted vehicle a regardless of whether or not the system-mounted vehicle that is selected as the cooperating vehicle is traveling in the same lane as the system-mounted vehicle, such that it is possible to select the cooperating system-mounted vehicle without being influenced by the accuracy of recognizing the lane in which the system-mounted vehicle travels.